Quirks and Conclusions
by ACGS
Summary: Asuka reaches Hikari’s house, and yet another aspect to the growing story is added. Wait a few chapters and I think things will begin to fall together much more than they are currently, and I’d like to see how many of you can guess what Asuka’s quirk is!
1. Default Chapter

Chapter 1: Circles and cones

Asuka slowly walked down the hallway of the apartment, whistling to herself out of boredom. Shinji was in his room, probably wallowing in self-pity while listening to his SDAT.

'That stupid Baka... He could at least play that stupid cello of his, at least then I'd be a little entertained...!' This was the 25th time Asuka had paced past Shinji's room, and the 25th time she had grumbled to herself about how stupid Shinji is. As Asuka passes Shinji's room for the twenty-sixth time, however, Asuka pauses. A strange, repetitive sound issues forth from Shinji's door, just loud enough for Asuka's ears to pick up the noise, but not loud enough to discern what it was. Asuka shrugs and continues pacing back and forth. After the third time passing Shinji's door, however, Asuka stops once more and presses her ear up to the door. This time she could make out the noise a bit clearer, but she had to be hearing it wrong. Several moments pass with Asuka's ear against Shinji's door before her nostrils begin to sting from the smell of strong incense.

'What is that Baka doing in there, performing a sacrifice?' Asuka asks herself with a chuckle. The sound begins to increase, to Asuka's surprise, and she can swear it sounds like chanting. But that can't be right; her ears must be messed up. Another minute passes and the sound stops completely.

'Why'd it stop? This is so stupid; he probably just got some new stupid tape...' But, like a cat, Asuka's curiosity soon got the better of her and, very suddenly, Asuka slides Shinji's door open. Asuka's eyes enlarge to the size of saucers before she blinks several times and rubs them. Before her, standing in the middle of the room, was Shinji. Dressed in a long black robe, Shinji had incense sticks lined up, forming a large circle around the room, the edges of said circle touching the four walls. In the center, where Shinji was standing, appeared to be a small circle drawn around Shinji with chalk dust. Just in front of Shinji's feet sits a large waffle cone, the closed end facing Shinji, and a scoop of vanilla ice cream inside the cone. Hanging around Shinji's neck is a chain which ends in a circle, hanging just over Shinji's chest. Inside the circle, suspended somehow, is an ice cream cone.

"S-Shinji...?"

Shinji gulps slightly as he waves at Asuka, a cone of ice cream in his other hand, "Uh...Hi, Asuka...this...this isn't what it seems..." Asuka steps back, shock apparent on her face. Shinji steps forward and towards Asuka, his mind trying to come up with a good excuse. Unfortunatly for Shinji, his movement towards Asuka was all it took to send Asuka over the deep end.

"Y-you're not going to make me your virgin sacrifice!" Asuka, hysterical, screams as she turns and runs out of the apartment.

"I hope Misato doesn't find out about this..." Shinji says to himself nervously before taking a lick of the ice cream unconsciously.


	2. Chapter 2

The long dead PhantomR has whined me into giving him some form of credit for a few ideas present in this story.

"Hikari!" Asuka bangs loudly against the door to the Horaki residence, "Hikari, let me in!"

A moment later Hikari, bewildered, opens the door, "Asuka, what's wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost!" Hikari exclaims as she opens the door and ushers Asuka in. Without another word, Asuka walks in and heads straight to Hikari's room. Hikari walks in just after Asuka and closes the door to her room behind her, "Will you answer me now, or are you just going to leave me in suspense?" Hikari asks with worry apparent on her face.

Asuka sits down on Hikari's bed and takes a few deep breaths before recounting the tale, though not very well. "S-Shinji, I was walking and-and the chanting and-and he was going to sacrifice me!" Asuka once more lapses into hysterics as Hikari places her arm around her.

"Now, now, Asuka, I doubt Shinji was trying to sacrifice you, now why don't you tell me what happened, from the beginning, eh?" Hikari smiles at Asuka reassuringly as she awaits her response. Slowly, after taking several moments to pause in order to calm her hysteria, Asuka tells the story back to Hikari.

"So...Shinji...wanted to sacrifice you...to his pagan Gods?" Hikari asks rhetorically, her countenance showing her shock. Asuka nods hastily, still startled herself.

"It...just doesn't seem possible, Asuka." Hikari was having just a bit more than a hard time trying to imagine Shinji as some kind of cultist. "And if it is true...what are you going to do? You know you can't stay here for long..."

"I know, but...but Hikari, what if he sacrifices me while I'm sleeping!" Hikari almost sighs in irritation that Asuka is being so over-reactive. "Alright, I guess you can stay here for a while..." Hikari finally concedes, taking out a bed roll for Asuka to sleep on. Just after rolling out the futon, Hikari is startled as the sound of a rumbling stomach cuts through the silence that had formed. Seeing Hikari turn her head towards her, Asuka blushes slightly, "So I got a little hungry after being chased..."

Smiling, Hikari nods, "It's alright, Asuka, I'll just... go get some food."

Asuka nods dumbly as Hikari exits her room, heading for the kitchen. Sitting in Hikari's room, Asuka's mind slowly comes back to the incident from before, 'I bet that Baka's had his eye on me for some time now, waiting until he could catch me off guard! Well, he'll never get the chance, cause I'll tell Misato right when I get home!' Asuka smiles to herself as she thinks about turning Shinji in as the evil cultist he is until a thought crosses her mind that causes her countenance to droop, 'But...if he sacrifices Misato...no, he couldn't do that, cultists only sacrifice virgins, right?' Asuka smiles slightly before her mood is once again banished, 'What if his cult doesn't require the sacrifices to be virgins!' Another string of thoughts pass through Asuka's head as she shivers to herself.

20 minutes after Hikari's departure a knocking emanates from the door to the house. A small, unintelligible discourse takes place between Hikari and a voice Asuka had never heard before. A few moments later Hikari comes to her room with a smile on her face, "C'mon, Asuka, let's get some food."

Nodding, Asuka walks behind Hikari until they reach the kitchen, where a single pizza box occupies the kitchen table. Asuka's eyes widen slightly, and her heart begins to beat faster, "H-hikari...did you order pizza...?"

"Yeah, of course I did...is there anything wrong with that?" Hikari asks, wondering why her friend was acting so weird.

Shaking her head, Asuka smiles to reassure Hikari, "No, there's nothing wrong with it." Sitting down at the table, Asuka's eyes dart to the box once more, this time the sweat on her palms becoming apparent to her. Why did Hikari have to pick now of all times to get pizza? Things were going from bad to worse for Asuka.

Hikari opens the pizza box, the smell of the baked pizza filling the room. Now Asuka's heart felt like it was going to burst out of her chest. Slowly Hikari gathers two plates and places a piece on each, handing one filled plate to Asuka, "Dig in!"

Asuka nods slightly with a worried smile and returns her gaze to the pizza sitting on her plate. Looking up at Hikari, Asuka checks to see if her symptoms were becoming obvious to Hikari. Hikari was simply eating her slice happily, a sight that gave relief to Asuka. Then, much to Asuka's fear, Hikari looks up, "What's wrong, Asuka? Don't you like pizza?"

Asuka shakes her head, the butterflies in her stomach making her want to vomit, "I-it's nothing like that, don't worry!"

Hikari smiles, "Then eat up!"

Asuka gulps and looks at her slice once more. Slowly her hand reaches out, its palm cold and clammy, and Asuka attempts to grasp the slice. Just as Asuka's slender fingertips touch the bread of the pizza crust, she leaps up and runs out of Hikari's house, leaving the door open, as well as her shoes still near the door, yelling, "I just can't do it!"


End file.
